Friday, July 31, 2015

Jio MAMI’s 17th Mumbai Film Festival

Mumbai, July 30, 2015 – To recognise quality writingon cinema, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival announces a new award category – the Book Award for Excellence in Writing on Cinema.

The Award seeks entries that showcase nuanced and imaginative film writing and publishing in South Asia. Book-length works written by authors from the sub-continent and published by an Indian publishing house in print format between July 31, 2014 and June 30, 2015 are eligible for the Award.

The Award covers works of fiction, graphic novel, creative non-fiction, reportage, analysis and screenplay, written in English or translated into English. The Award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakhs. The last date of submission is Monday, August 10, 2015.

Leading Publisher & Editor, Arpita Das (Yoda Press), is curating the Award. Reflecting on the idea behind the Award, she said, “If we want more nuanced discussions around cinema in India, we need to have more writing on and around film. That is the belief which lies behind the Jio MAMI Book Award for Excellence in Writing on Cinema -- a recognition of the best writing on films in India in a way that more writers want to engage with cinema and make it their subject matter in their future.”

Anupama Chopra, Festival Director, Jio MAMI, said, “As a journalist and book author, it gives me immense pleasure to introduce the book award at Jio MAMI Mumbai film festival. We need to preserve, document, archive and analyze our rich and diverse cinema culture. My hope is that this will help support and produce some stellar writing on our collective passion: Cinema."

Jio MAMI's Mumbai Film Festival will be held in Mumbai from 29th October-5th November 2015.

The festival has received an overwhelming show of support from members of the Indian Film fraternity who have committed their time and resources to make the Festival a showcase of the best creative talent from India and around the world.

The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival is an inclusive movie feast. We showcase the latest cutting-edge, independent cinema - art house fare alongside genre movies from Bollywood and Hollywood and cult international movies. We offer the best of world cinema to the people of Mumbai and we offer the best of Indian cinema to the world. The festival is run by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image popularly known as MAMI. This is a space where we revel in the sheer pleasure of cinema, the joy it gives us and how much it enhances our lives. The goal is to nurture and ignite a passion for movies. We want Jio MAMI to be shorthand for excellence in cinema.

ABOUT MAMI

Mumbai - the financial capital of India is also the epicentre of the Indian film industry. The city plays such a major role in production and dissemination of Indian films and television programs that it is widely known by its acronym 'Bollywood'. In 1997, a group of film industry stalwarts headed by late Hrishikesh Mukherjee founded the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) as a not-for-profit Trust. Their main objective was to organise an annual International Film Festival which the film industry and the country could be proud of. MAMI has been organising the festival for the last 16 years and aims to foster a climate of good cinema. MAMI engages people from all walks of life across the city and country who enjoy and love good cinema. It is Mumbai’s only film festival that is entirely created and run by film professionals and a group of members from corporate India. Appreciation of good cinema, stripped off all the limiting labels of art and commercial, can only come about through exposure to the best of films the world has to offer. The Festival is the first step in that direction.

In their Mission Statement in 1997, the MAMI Board of Trustees said, "We feel it is the need of the hour to disseminate and inculcate good cinema among Indian audiences. The only way to achieve this is to celebrate cinema by hosting an International Film Festival in Mumbai, India 's film and entertainment capital. MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) is committed to start Mumbai's first independent international film festival organized by practicing film makers."

For more information on Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival scheduled to be held from 29th October- 5th November 2015, do visit our MAMI Website, Twitter handle, Facebook Page, Instagram and YouTube as follows: